This thesis seeks to explain social participation in pre-schools for children with and without Down’s syndrome. The explanation is achieved by use of an explanatory model of social participation, designed on the basis of critical realism, which has been used in an empirical study of how social participation emerges in practice. Mechanisms have been abstracted. It is assumed that recognition mechanism produces social participation and reification mechanism social exclusion. The results show that the agency of the personnel affects the possibilities for the recognition mechanism to produce social participation. Within the agency of the personnel, the internal relationship between the child perspective, i.e. how children's place in society is understood, and the relationship to the child's perspective, i.e. how children's participation is regarded, either prevents or makes possible activation of the mechanism. The child perspective has, through the empirical study, been seen to take two different forms: either that children are similar, with similar needs, or that they are different, with different needs. If children are defined as similar, the structures will accommodate all children, enabling them to be socially involved in the same activities. If children are defined as different, different structures are created for different groups of children. Groups are segregated from each other, preventing the children from being socially involved in joint activities. The relationship to the child's perspective has emerged in relation to the roles of the child as an agent, as a collective subject, and as an individual subject. The role definition affects the degree of constraint imposed on the possibilities for action that are offered, and thus affects the opportunity costs and degrees of freedom of the children. These determine the activation of recognition mechanism and social participation in the situation.

This thesis is an evaluation of the campaign [The digitally curious] that is part of the regional marketing campaign Futurum.kom. Its purpose was to strengthen the library's role in society. The campaign includes Regionbibliotek Kalmar, Länsbibliotek Sydost and also 25 public libraries in Kronoberg, Kalmar and Blekinge. The campaign [The digitally curious] is one of several cluster campaigns targeting their marketing to a specific audience and aims to promote awareness of what libraries have to offer and provide information on digital media and services. The target group for the campaign is a man between 45-65 years old, who is interested in digital technology. The campaign ran from September 19 to October 2, 2011, and included digital activities. The thesis addresses these questions: What has the campaign [The digitally curious] for overall goals and how relevant were they? What was the audience for [The digitally curious] and did they reach it? What marketing channels did the library use and why them? To what extent did the librarians perceive that the objectives of the campaign were achieved? How did the public value the digital activities in the public library and how did they perceive the cluster campaigns, [The digitally curious], message. The method used in the thesis was case studies, which included a survey of the public, interviews with librarians and document analysis. Our study revealed that there is a need in society for digital activities to bridge the digital divide. The marketing campaign received positive feedback but the target group did not come to the extent that was desired. It was also revealed that to be successful in marketing and to work on bridging the digital divide, collaboration is a useful method.

Depression is a common clinical and subclinical psychiatric disorder in the middle-age to older adult population. This study examined the relationship between depression and activities of daily living (ADLs) in middle-age to older adults. This study examined longitudinal data from the 1998, wave 4, and 2000, wave 5, of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a National Panel Study sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. A negative cross-sectional and longitudinal relationship between higher ADL scores and depression was hypothesized. A goal of the present study was to determine the temporal precedence of these two constructs using a cross-lag panel design to first examine the cross-sectional relationship between ADLs and depression at time-one and at time-two, and then the time-one to time-two longitudinal relationships to examine temporal precedence possible causal relationships. Finally, differences in these correlational relationships by retirement status and then by marital status were tested. There were several interesting findings, including those who were retired in both 1998 and 2000 reported fewer ADLs (i.e., worse functioning), but also reported better health than those who were working in both 1998 and 2000. Similarly, those people who were not married in both 1998 and 2000 reported fewer ADLs but better health than those who were married in both 1998 and 2000. Married individuals reported fewer depressive symptoms than those who were not married.

This diploma thesis introduces children's musical as a didactic tool at primary schools. This work maps the influence of creative playwright on the development of musical abilities, skills and creativities. The theoretical part of this diploma thesis defines the term "musical". It briefly describes the origin of the musical as a genre. The practical part brings possibilities of using a musical as a means of an educational process. It provides particular demonstrative situations which lead to development of the crucial competences of the students. The author of the musical is the author of this diploma thesis. She herself translates the music recording, scenario, and methodical material. The method, that has been used for the field research, is a systemic observation which is divided into ten lessons in the form of a project-based learning. This thesis deals with an issue, whether the musical enables an active engagement of the pupils in the musical educational process. The hypotheses, which have been set, are verified by the means of collective reflection from which follows students' higher motivation for musical activity. The realization of the musical positively develops students' attitudes towards music and enables them to react to current trends in the field of musical education. KEYWORDS...